The Minnesota Timberwolves (don’t click away yet!) has been a franchise in constant change since 2000 whenever once Kevin Garnett left. Front office consistencies has been one of the most glaring issues for the franchise. There have been under the table deals that they got caught and penalized for, terrible contracts, horrific scouting and drafting, and just a general ineptitude. The franchise thinks they found their new man in Gersson Rosas.
Who Is Gersson Rosas?
On that note though, the franchise thinks they found a guy who doesn’t draft three point guards in the first round *cough cough* David Kahn *cough cough*. A guy who doesn’t do illegal trades that cost three first round picks from the seasons ’01-’05 *cough cough* Kevin McHale *cough cough*. Gersson Rosas instead was former Executive Vice President for the Houston Rockets, working closely six years under ex-Houston General Manager, current 76ers General Manager, Daryl Morey. Rosas has been a U.S. national team scout since 2015. Also was the General Manager to the Rockets G-League team the Rio Grande Valley Vipers for four years. During those four years the Vipers made it to the finals every year and won twice. Some positive notes for a guy that wasn’t known really by the NBA fan unless you were a Rockets fan. Quick, think about your G-League team’s General Manager is… That’s right you can’t. Let the Timberwolves franchise have this one.
What One Year of Rosas Has Been Like
Last offseason he completed a handful contracts and signings that seemed odd at the time, but was playing the long game the entire time. By mid-season only one of the four players stayed due to trades, plus a couple waiving of players. Though, that ended up helping the Timberwolves give up one of the NBA’s worst contracts with Andrew Wiggins max contract to the Golden State Warriors for D’Angelo Russell, who just so happens to be franchise cornerstone Karl Anthony-Towns’ best friend. They offered a similar trade to the Warriors the prior offseason and the Warriors didn’t bite. Gersson comes out from the smoke again, offers essentially the same deal, and Golden State is like, “Yeah, man. We’ll take on one of the most inconsistent 20 point scorers in the game with a bloated contract.”
Secrecy as His Primary Weapon
Now let’s fast forward to the draft leading up to the offseason. Draft night is coming and rumors are flying around everywhere. Is Rosas going to trade the pick? If so, who? Ben Simmons? Devin Booker? Try a package deal with teams? Trade down to Atlanta and get a package deal involving rising star John Collins? Trade down to Cleveland and bring back former Timberwolves all star, Kevin Love, to come and fill the desperate rebounding and three-point shooting hole? There was lots of options and Rosas sounded like he said “Yes” and “No” for every option. Rosas was throwing smoke bombs around and had a fog machine that he stole from the Target Center that they use it for starting lineups.
Gersson Rosas was so secretive he got the almighty Adrian Wojnarowski to say the most generic response on draft night with what Rosas would do with the pick. Draft night’s big Woj bomb was “As of now the Timberwolves have made it down to two decisions, either keep the pick or trade it.” Wow, some hard hitting deep take. I made that take while I was eating chicken wings waiting for the draft to start. Then I realized, well look where Woj is and where I am. I shut myself up quickly.
What Has Gersson Rosas Done Currently?
On draft night, he decided to keep the pick and draft Anthony Edwards out of the University of Georgia, which as of this young season has been one bright spots for the organization. The Timberwolves have a history of messing up top picks a lot i.e. Derrick Williams, Wesley Johnson, Johnny Flynn, and Kris Dunn. Edwards’ performance has been the burst of fresh air like someone would get in a gum commercial. A top pick with work ethic. I’m getting goosebumps just thinking about it.
Now jump a little more to today; struggling play, missing star players, confusing lineups and player movement. The fanbase is trying to trust the P-Rosas (that’s right Philly, Minny is taking it too). Rosas seems like a man on a mission. The quietest mission ever. Like an assassin (or me trying to make nachos at 1 in the morning), quiet as a mouse. At this point Rosas has kept everyone on there toes so long and has been in smoke for what seems like forever, that my calves are starting to cramp and fans are getting the black lung from all the smoke. Just once show an actual idea you have. I don’t need to have trust issues with my team. We’ve been through so much since I started watching you in 2002.
There has been some rumbling of frustrations on the fanbase of late to a 2-4 start where all four losses have been major blowouts and are on a four game losing streak. Everything Rosas does seems like he doesn’t tell anyone. Karl Anthony-Towns has an undisclosed wrist injury that will keep him day-to-day or 4-6 weeks. He says that he’s not close to his final team. Well, what’s that supposed to mean?
Dear Gerrson Rosas,
This goes out to you. Please don’t let me down. I have been Team Rosas since day one. Don’t be David Kahn who set the Timberwolves back so much that we are still recovering from his moves to this day. The hope you have given the fanbase with things has been great. I just apologize that Minnesota Timberwolves fans can be very impatient and very critical to an organization whose history is just losing. I know it’s a business of making teams question and want to do more. Just this one time, hold back on one of those smoke bombs and take down a mirror or two. We don’t need that harsh of a look in a mirror. Some of us still own our Rashad McCants jerseys. Not me though. God no.
